Yes, I am a huge fan of Lost, or a “Lostie” as people like to call it. To try and describe a show like this is actually a tough job. It really is. For other “Losties” out there, I know they understand. This is a show that transports you into a whole different world and gets you so involved with the characters and what is going on, you literally feel like you are there with them.

This is a show that is part drama, part mystery, part adventure, part fantasy and part Science Fiction. It involves so many different characters and so many different plot threads, you truly do get LOST. That is the fun of it. You’re always wondering what the heck is going on. But you care enough to stick with it through to the end.

That’s what I did. For all Six Seasons of this remarkable television show. When it started in Sept 2004 it was an immediate success both with viewers and critics. Almost 16 million viewers tuned in to watch the first season and although viewership did decrease over the years, there were still 11 million viewers by Season 6’s finale. LOST! was consistently hailed by US Critics to be one of the top 5 TV shows of the year over the duration that it was on the air. The show has won numerous awards including an Emmy Award for Best Outstanding Drama Series in 2005 and a Golden Globe for the same title in 2006.

Lost was filmed in its entirety in the beautiful backdrop of Oahu, Hawaii.

So, to describe the show itself?

Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles crashes on an unknown island. The survivors all gather together and wait for rescue, but it soon becomes apparent that nobody is coming. There are so many central characters with their own story lines that it would take too much to write it here, but I will cover the most important ones. Jack Shephard is a doctor with a penchant for “fixing things” and is the hero of the show. The first episode begins with Jack opening his eyes on the island where they crashed. Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is a fugitive who was being transported to prison when the plane crashed. Sawyer (Josh Holloway) is a con-artist with a secret of his own, who throughout the show becomes a very popular character. There is a love triangle involving these central characters that goes back and forth for the duration of the show.

Then there is John Locke (Terry O Quinn) a man who was in a wheelchair before he arrived on the island, but now can walk. Due to this he believes fate brought them to the island and that they are there for a reason. Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is the overweight lovable dude who brings most of the comic relief to the show. He also won 21 million dollars using numbers that appear on a hatch that they find in season 1 and which appear throughout the rest of the show as a central mystery. There’s Claire (Emile De Raven) the pregnant teenager who falls in love with Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) the former rockstar and heroin junkie. Sayid, (Naveen Andrews) the bad-ass who used to be in the Iraqi Military and Sun (Daniel Day Kim) and Jin (Yunjin Kim) an estranged couple who find love again on the island.

With the very first episode you are hooked in with the characters and the mystery surrounding the island. The plane was ripped apart but somehow they survived. There appears to be some sort of “monster” on the island. A polar bear attacks them — on a tropical island. They discover a recording by a french lady which has been playing on a loop for 16 years. As Charlie says, you wonder: “Where are they”?

The story of the show is told in several different ways. There is the continuing story line on the island itself and all the mysteries that unfold while they are there. Then there are flashbacks which tell you the story of each character before they got to the island. By the end of Season 3, that all changes and an entirely different direction is taken in the shows storyline. I’m not going to spoil that one for you. Watch it and find out for yourself.

While the survivors are on the island they become threatened by the mysterious “Others”, a group of apparent natives who already inhabit the island. Notable characters from the Others are Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) who is pitch perfect as the deliciously sly leader and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), a fertility doctor who is on the island reluctantly and gets involved with both Jack and Sawyer. There is also a man called Desmond (Henry Ian Cusack), who has been living in the hatch for 4 years, typing in numbers so as to “save the world”.

As the show propelled toward its finale I will proudly admit that I was completely obsessed. I had watched all previous seasons 3 times through to try and dissect and decipher all the various mythology and mysteries that the show had to offer. Now there may have been some disappointment from fans that not all of the mysteries were solved. Yes, this may be true. However, all of the relevant ones were tied up and more importantly is that the show went back to the characters themselves. What resulted was the single most powerful and moving finale for a television series that I have ever watched. I Don’t think the creators could have done a better job of wrapping everything up.

A true phenomenon was created with LOST! in 2004. Watch this series from beginning to end and you will know why.

LOST! The full collection will be released on DVD August 24 2010. 5/5 stars.